384 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  24,  1901 
Apple  Growing  on  Cordons. 
Maggots  in  Grapes. 
I  have  never  advocated  growing  Apples  for  ordinary 
purposes  on  this  system,  when  the  trees  are  managed  on  the 
lines  usually  recommended.  There  are,  however,  some 
circumstances  under  which  cordons  may  be  turned  to  good 
account  in  private  gardens,  and  even  by  men  who  grow  for 
supplying  our  markets.  The  great  advantage  of  the 
system  is  that  by  it  we  are  able  to  get  a  very  quick  return 
in  the  shape  of  fruit,  and  the  fruit  is  also  of  a  higher  colour 
than  that  produced  on  standards.  The  drawbacks  are — that 
the  cost  of  trees  is  considerable,  and  it  is  generally  admitted 
that  they  do  not  last  more  than  ten  or  twelve  years.  I  think, 
however,  I  shall  be  able  to  show  that  the  latter  drawback  is 
brought  about  by  the  treatment  the  trees  receive,  and  can  to 
a  great  extent  be  abolished  by  adopting  a  different  method 
of  treatment. 
When  newgardens  are  being  formed,  it  is  a  matter  of  great 
importance  to  take  steps  to  insure  a  regular  supply  of 
Apples  as  quickly  as  possible  ;  and  as  by  planting  cordons 
good  fruits  may  be  produced  the  second  year  after,  the 
cordon  is  a  type  of  tree  which  must  appeal  to  all  who  are, 
forming  gardens.  Again,  gardeners  taking  a  new  charge 
often  find  the  supply  of  choice  dessert  Apples  totally 
inadequate  to  meet  the  demand.  If  a  quarter  is  at  once 
planted  with  cordons,  in  a  few  years  crops  of  the  finest 
quality  are  produced.  In  small  gardens,  too,  where  it  is 
desirable  to  hqve  a  regular  succession  of  dessert  fruits,  too 
much  space  would  be  taken  up  by  planting  standards  of  the 
requisite  number  of  varieties.  Here  again  the  cordon 
comes  splendidly  to  the  rescue,  and  in  many  gardens  both 
large  and  small  Apples  of  very  high  quality  are  produced 
annually  on  this  style  of  tree. 
The  treatment  usually  given  to  cordons  is  either  to  cut 
back  the  side  shoots  to  two  or  three  buds  in  August,  or  to 
pinch  them  to  four  or  five  leaves  as  soon  as  they  have  made 
6in  or  8in  of  growth,  and  then  cut  them  back  in  September  to 
a  couple  of  eyes  ;  the  leader  being  allowed  to  extend  from 
9in  to  12in  each  year.  And  now  I  come  to  the  point  which 
I  wish  to  particularly  emphasise.  After  trees  have  been  so 
treated  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  have  during  that  time 
borne  good  crops,  they  are  generally  considered  worn  out, 
and  the  majority  of  writers  advocate  uprooting  them. 
According  to  my  experience,  however,  they  are  no  more 
worn  out  than  a  bush  tree  worked  on  a  dwarfing  stock  is.  At 
the  same  age  either  will,  with  proper  treatment,  go  on  satis¬ 
factorily  for  at  least  twenty  years  longer  if  different  tactics 
are  adopted.  The  truth  about  the  matter  is  that  Nature 
will  not  be  restricted  within  such  narrow  bounds  for  an 
indefinite  period,  then  comes  a  time  when  the  vitality  of 
a  cordon  is  impaired,  and  vigour  can  only  be  regained  by 
allowing  greater  freedom  of  growth. 
I  am  intimately  acquainted  with  a  large  number  of 
cordon  trees  which  were  planted  about  twenty-five  years 
ago.  They  were  kept  in  that  form  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  then,  instead  of  uprooting  them,  they  were  simply 
allowed  to  grow  freely  and  form  natural  bushes.  Pinching 
was  discontinued,  the  shoots  kept  thinly  disposed,  and 
shortened  but  moderately.  To-day  those  bushes  are  the 
envy  of  hosts  of  gardeners,  and  the  Apples  they  produce  no 
exhibition  can  afford  to  despise.  I  have  learned  a  lesson 
from  those  trees  which  I  shall  never  forget ;  that  lesson  is, 
plant  either  cordons  or  bush  trees  on  the  broad-leaved 
Paradise  stock.  If  the  former,  treat  them  in  the  ordinary 
way  for  a  few  years  so  as  to  get  them  to  fruit  early.  As 
soon  as  they  become  unsatisfactory,  thin  out  all  the  weak 
spurs,  allow  the  stronger  ones  to  grow  away,  so  as  to  form 
bushes  or  pyramids.  Plant  the  cordons  3ft  or  4ft  apart,  and 
when  the  time  has  arrived  to  allow  them  more  freedom  of 
growth,  lift  every  alternate  tree  and  plant  elsewhere.  Then, 
a  few  years  after,  remove  half  of  those  left,  so  that  the  trees 
retained  stand  from  12ft  to  16ft  apart. 
Dwarfing  stocks  have  not  been  in  use  long  enough  to  be 
able  to  state  accurately  how  long  trees  worked  on  them  will 
be  satisfactory,  but  my  firm  conviction  is  that  if  they  receive 
proper  attention,  they  will  last  just  as  long  as  those  on  the 
Crab  or  free  stock.  It  is  not  the  stock  which  shortens  the 
life  of  a  tree,  but  the  continual  suppression  of  its  growth. — 
On  September  26,  1901,  I  examined  part  of  a  bunch  of  Grapes, 
and  found  the  berries  infested  by  maggots,  as  stated  by  a  corre¬ 
spondent,  who  had  sent  the  specimens  to  the  Editor  of  the 
“Journal  of  Horticulture”  for  opinion  as  to  whether  the  like 
had  been  seen  before  or  not.  I  have  no  recollection  of  haying 
found,  or  recorded,  any  such  like  phenomenon,  and  have  certainly 
not  found  berries  so  affected  in  half  a  century’s  experience  with 
Grapes,  either  culturally  or  pathologically,  and  I  have  thousands 
of  the  latter  cases,  yet  not  one  at  all  analogous  to  this  one. 
I  read  the  letter  of  the  correspondent  before  looking  at  the 
specimen,  and  was  so  demur  that  had  not  the  examination 
verified  the  statement  of  “  maggoty  Grapes  ”  it  would  not  have 
been  credited.  This  may  strike  some  as  prejudice.  To  upset 
this  there  is  nothing  equal  to  experience,  and  the  first  example 
of  “  maggoty  Grapes  ”  configured  will  be  that  now  presented  in 
the  “  Journal  of  Horticulture.” 
To  say  that  I  was  surprised  on  examining  the  portion  of  the 
bunch  and  finding  maggots  galore  therein  is  nothing  as  compared 
with  the  nausea,  the  berries  giving  out  a  very  sour,  penetrating 
smell ;  nothing  like  it,  fortunately,  having  hitherto  been  experi¬ 
enced,  and  I  was  pleased  when  the  examination  was  completed, 
for  it  was  sickening,  make-ill  work.  What  of  that?  No  one  is 
interested!  No  matter,  I  made  some  sketches,  and  these  will 
be  helpful  to  others  wishful  to  learn  and  grasp  the  mysteries  of 
Nature  as  to  myself,  still  desirous  of  making  acquaintance  with 
facts. 
Enough;  the  illustration  will  clench  the  argument.  At  A  is 
shown  an  affected  Grape  Vine  berry,  natural  size,  with  the  berry 
parted  from  the  shank  or  footstalk,  a;  holding  on  apparently 
by  the  seed  or  stone-strings,  b;  the  flesh  putrefying,  c;  and  a 
maggot  visible  therein,  d-  Who  before  has  seen  such  a  thing? 
This  maggot  was  taken  out  of  the  flesh  of  the  Grape  berry,  and 
balancing  its  body  on  its  posterior  end,  reared  its  head  and 
careered  to  such  extent  as  to  be  practically  “  unsketchable  ” 
alive.  I  treated  it  with  dilute  alcohol,  methylated  spirit,  aniline, 
and  only  got  prostration  by  the  use  of  formalin.  A  pocket  lens, 
enlarging  three  times,  showed  the  creature  as  at  If,  and  a  ten- 
diameter  lens  outlined  the  animal  as  at  C,  it  having  drawn-in 
somewhat  and  proportionately  widened  out.  Attention  is  re¬ 
quested  to  its  mouth  part,  e,  and  its  posterior  appendages,  f . 
Some  of  the  berries  were  considerably  destroyed,  in  flesh,  by 
the  maggots,  and  on,  and  in  this,  were  certain  bodies.  An 
example  is  represented  at  D,  natural  size,  the  sunken  part  being 
full  of  pupae,  c/,  and  even  one  on  the  skin  of  the  berry,  h ■  A 
magnified  pupa  is  shown  at  F,  and  another  still  more  magnified, 
at  F. 
Now,  remember,  on  September  26,  1901,  there  were  maggots, 
and  also  pupae.  From  the  latter  two  flies  emerged  on  the  29th, 
and  they  were  quieted  by  tobacco  smoke  blown  into  the  box 
in  which  they  were  held  captive.  On  September  30,  1901,  one 
of  the  flies,  fumigated  the  day  before,  was  found  dead ;  but  the 
other  had  taken  to  itself  wings  and  sped  away  gaily  the  evening 
before,  for  one  must  need  look  betimes  to  see  how  matters 
progress.  This  was  no  loss,  for  what  is  one  amongst  so  many  ? 
Another  had  appeared  by  the  30th.  It  is  shown,  natural  size, 
at  G,  enlarged  three  times  at  U ,  and  ten  diameters  at  I.  What 
fly  is  it?  I  do  not  know  definitely,  for  though  bearing  a  close 
resemblance  in  larva  and  pupa  to  the  Fever  fly,  Dilophus  vulgaris, 
the  perfect  insect  hardly  coincides  with  examples  of  it  I  have 
figured  as  infesting  Hop-cones  and  the  roots  of  various  plants. 
Perhaps  the  variation  may  be  due  to  host;  at  any  rate,  the 
insect  is  a  so-called  Fever  fly,  Dilophus  species,  the  males  having 
black  bodies,  and  the  females  browm  abdomen. 
In  the  late  Miss  Ormerod’s  “  Manual  of  Injurious  Insects  and 
Methods  of  Prevention,”  second  edition,  page  129,  re  the  Fever 
fly,  it  is  recorded  that  in  1862  the  insect  was  hanging  in  millions 
on  flowers  and  in  bunches  on  Grasses  on  the  Norfolk  coast,  and 
as  appearing  amongst  the  Hop-cones  at  Rainham,  in  Kent,  in 
1882 ;  also  as  infesting  the  roots  of  Hop  plants  in  the  larval 
stage  at  the  beginning  of  April,  in  1884.  Curtis,  however, 
appears  the  first  to  have  noticed  the  Fever  fly  as  injurious  to 
crops.  In  his  “Farm  Insects,”  page  467,  he  notices  the  Fever 
fly  as  “  exceedingly  abundant  every  year,  and  the  larvae  causing 
much  damage  in  the  gardens.”  Curtis  also,  in  the  “  Gardeners’ 
Chronicle,”  in  1844,  noted  a  considerable  number  of  Fever  fly 
maggots  in  “  a  Vine  border  amongst  the  horsemuck.” 
Now  the  Vine  border  where  the  Fever  fly  maggots  were  found 
later  on  infesting  the  bunches  of  Grapes  and  sent  to  me,  was 
mulched  with  short  manure,  a  practice  pursued  for  many  years 
without  any  disaster;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  profit  to  the 
Vines.  Assuming  the  grubs  of  the  Fever  fly  to  have  been  intro¬ 
duced  in  the  manure,  what  was  there  different  in  the  clusters  of 
Grapes  to  induce  the  Fever  flies  to  deposit  their  eggs  upon  them, 
or  even  in  the  berries  in  1901,  to  what  there  were  in  similar 
bunches  in  previous  years  ?  Where  is  the  predisposition  doctrine  ? 
